The Technique of the Towel
If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
John 13:14.
Our Lord steps from magnificence to meniality: “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands…began to wash the disciples’ feet.” From sublimity to service!
In the early days of Communism one leader wanted to admit all who accepted the theory and purposes of the movement. Lenin insisted that only those who were so devoted as to be willing to do the most menial tasks be received. “Fewer but better” was his motto. He said, “Give me one hundred fanatics rather than a thousand indifferent followers.”
“The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” Considering how we have to coax and beg church members to do a few things for our Lord, we can easily see how we are loaded down with excess baggage, nominal disciples who agree in theory but have never learned our Saviour’s technique of the towel.
The average church member would do well to look in his concordance and see how many columns it takes to list all the “serve,” “servant,” “service” references. We come to church to sit but will not go out to serve.